Display Resolution Problem on Toshiba Sat L830

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j
j
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Joined: 01/23/2014

Display Resolution Problem on Toshiba Sat L830

Guys, I'm new to Linux & non-technical. After looking into alternatives to MicroNSF/Windoze I decided on Trisquel on principle. I fully realise that, based on popular Ubuntu, its probably already back-doored.

I managed to get my head around Virtual Box & ran Trisquel in it for a few months to familiarise myself & only fully installed recently. I had no idea certain things might not work with a full install.

Wireless is now ok. I have a 13” Toshiba Sat L830, with 16:9 screen, which Trisq can't seem to connect to. The default 4:3 is unworkable – everything elongated.
Also, Brightness settings work, but screen is not as bright, on max setting, as before.

Is there an easy way around this?

Alternatively, if the solution is very technical, could someone detail the process for me so, if stuck, I could at least take the info to a computer shop & get it done . . .

Any help appreciated.

I tried Linux Mint with no problems + screen was brighter, however, I would much prefer to use FSF endorsed Trisquel & support those I consider to be good guys.

Would be great if Trisquel could get to the point where it worked more seemlessly out of the box for non-technical users like myself. This would mean a much greater uptake, more donations and, ultimately, far more demand for non-compromised hardware.

Magic Banana

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I am a translator!

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Joined: 07/24/2010

If there is a backdoor in Ubuntu, it very probably is implemented in the proprietary software that distribution includes. Trisquel is 100% free software. You can read all the code. And everybody else can. Nothing proprietary is imported from Ubuntu: only free software.

Aren't there any other resolution proposed in the "Display" utility you can find in the "System Settings"? What is you video card?

lembas
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Joined: 05/13/2010

Welcome! Linux is a kernel, the operating system is GNU/Linux.

To see what video card you have, run in a terminal

lspci|grep VGA

(GNU/Linux is case-sensitive, i.e. VGA is not vga)

Things worth trying to fix

* the brightness control, you could try adding a acpi_backlight=vendor parameter to the kernel in GRUB.

Put it on this line GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=

sudo nano /etc/default/grub

Ctrl+X and Enter, Enter to exit

sudo update-grub

Then boot and see if that made a difference.

* the resolution, you could try moving xorg.conf to another name and if that's not enough, upgrading the Linux-libre kernel and the X server.

sudo mv /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup

Boot to see if that did the trick. If not, you can try a new kernel from http://jxself.org/linux-libre/ and installing the -lts-sausy xserver packages using the Synaptic package manager. Once again boot to see if this helped.

Why things like this don't work always (I had no problems with my widescreen resolution nor brightness) automatically is because there is so much differing hardware. Things were much more standardized when we used desktops but laptops are a nightmare and phones and tablets are probably even worse...

j
j
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Joined: 01/23/2014

Thanks Guys, apologies delay, not online at home.

MB: 'Display Resolution' in 'Settings' only has 4:3,: When scrolling down 'Resolution' nothing else appears (worked in Linux Mint though).
Will try to find out what my video card is

Lembas: Thanks for that, will try to get some help to look into it as never used a Terminal before.

On other thing, when using Libre Office Writer the spell check doesn't work - is there anything simple I can do to rectify this.

Appreciate your time & help Guys, thank you

Magic Banana

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I am a translator!

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Joined: 07/24/2010

For the spell-checker, try running the "Language Support" utility in the "System settings".

As lembas wrote, you can idebtify the precise graphical chipset you have by typing, in a terminal, the following line (+ the [Enter] key):
$ lspci | grep VGA

Guessing from the problem you face, the answer will probably be an AMD chipset, the most problematic ones...

lembas
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Joined: 05/13/2010

Don't fear the terminal, it's probably somewhat scary at first if you've never used such an interface before but it's not too complicated. It's pretty unlikely you'd manage to break anything and if you do, then you probably learned a lesson. :)

Once you pick some terminal skills, it's often a much quicker way to get some things done than clicking around in GUIs. It also allows one to write simple scripts and do all kind of silly things. Scripting is like programming for non-programmers.

Are you trying to get the spell check going for English text? What happens?

j
j
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Joined: 01/23/2014

Hi Guys, the graphical chipset is:

Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI Thames [Radeon 7500M/7600M Series]

Do I still follow the instructions above to resolve resolution issues?

Or should I do something else as its an AMD chipset . . . .

antiesnob
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Joined: 08/22/2013

As mention before, run
$ lspci | grep VGA

The very first numbers (hex) from the result you must keep them in mind and the run
$ lspci -v -s "Thenumbers"

Magic Banana

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I am a translator!

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Joined: 07/24/2010

Here is somewhat more detailed instructions to install the latest Linux-libre kernel: https://trisquel.info/en/wiki/update-linux-libre-kernel

No guarantee it will help but it is pretty sure it will not worsen anything.

antiesnob
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Joined: 08/22/2013

Yes, you should follow those instructions. Go step by step testing those things. When one of them doesn't work try another one and so on and so forth...
Trying a new kernel should be the last one and it may not work or work as you'd never seen before!

dadix
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Joined: 07/01/2013

For brightness issue try this.
1. Open the terminal
2.copy/paste this in terminal and hit "Enter"
sudo gedit /etc/default/grub
3.Enter the password
4.change the line:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

to:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash acpi_backlight=vendor"
5.Update the grub bootloader configuration:
sudo update-grub2
6. Reboot the pc:
sudo reboot

The same instructions here: http://pastebin.com/06ibcUDW

ZykoticK9
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Joined: 04/07/2011

On Wed, Jan 29, 2014 at 08:50:27PM +0100, name at domain wrote:

> sudo gedit /etc/default/grub

WARNING This is dangerous!!! You should NOT use "sudo" with GUI applications, can break permissions in the user's account, which will prevent login.

Use "gksudo gedit /etc/default/grug" instead.

quantumgravity
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Joined: 04/22/2013

Sorry, I used sudo gedit for years and never encountered any problem.
What's the source of this information?

ZykoticK9
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Joined: 04/07/2011

On Wed, Jan 29, 2014 at 10:02:19PM +0100, name at domain wrote:

> Sorry, I used sudo gedit for years and never encountered any problem.
> What's the source of this information?

#ubuntu's gksudo factoid has the link:

16:21 If you need to run graphical applications as root, use « gksudo », as it will set up the environment more appropriately. Never just use "sudo"! (See http://psychocats.net/ubuntu/graphicalsudo to know why)

antiesnob
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Joined: 08/22/2013

It happened to me last year. There was a lot of trouble as Gnome tried to re-create itself (directories and files) everytime Xorg was started. Trisquel (fortunately) always prevented it to do it as it would overwrite already existing files and directories. I had to backup /home and reformat plus install...

lembas
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Joined: 05/13/2010

The thing is sudo works fine with *some* graphical apps. Some however choke and give you nasty trouble so it's better to categorically use gksudo for graphical apps.